Tasks are the building blocks of your project. You need to manage them in order to manage the project at large. Jennifer Bridges, PMP, offers task management tips so you can manage your work better. These tips are especially powerful when used in combination with task management software.

Here’s a shot of the whiteboard for your reference!

In Review: 10 Tips for Better Task Management

Jennifer noted the universal nature task management, whether it be the project manager dealing with a large, complex job, or just someone with something that needs to get done. The problem, she said, is that people aren’t applying new methodologies to managing these tasks in order to more efficiently deal with them. By now, of course, she meant new to you. Have you been using the same old methods of managing your task lists? Why not try these 10 task management tips and see how that impacts the work you’re doing.

1. List all your tasks
2. Manage your tasks
3. Add due dates
4. Prioritize for each day
5. Delete nonessential tasks
6. Set up reminders
7. Add notifications
8. Break up bigger tasks into smaller ones
9. Set expectations and boundaries with others
10. Find a quiet place to get things done

Managing tasks is not exclusive to managing others’ tasks, as ProjectManager found Jason Westland writes in Managing Your Own Task List. There’s never enough information to gather to better manage tasks, whether your own or your team’s.

Pro-Tip: It’s important to know that one size doesn’t fit all, and while some may need a more visual way of managing their tasks as opposed to the traditional ones. Do the research, look into the various methodologies and see which one speaks to your strengths and weaknesses.

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Video Transcription

Today, we’re talking about 10 tips for better task management. Whether you’re leading a team or a project, you as a business professional still have to manage your own task, and get your own work done. So, we’re looking at today, still people are using the sticky note method, or maybe lists.

So we’re looking to move beyond these methods to using more advanced online tools, or even apps. And when we use online tools and apps, there are best practices and tips we want to offer for how to manage your task.Number one, list all your tasks. Get them out of your brain so you don’t have to rely on memory, and get them into your tool. Number two, manage your task. Mark if they’re completed, or pending, or not even started. That way you know each day what to focus on.

Add due dates so that not everything is due today. You want to prioritize for each day, and complete critical tasks first, and early. Get rid of or delegate non-essential tasks to other people so that you can focus on the things that you’re best suited for, or more critical for your role.

Also, set up reminders so that you know in advance, hey what’s due today, what’s due this week, or even this month? Add notifications for yourself and others, so you’ll know when tasks have been completed. There are other people at times who are waiting to complete something, based on you completing your task.

Break up bigger tasks into smaller ones. Sometimes big tasks can look too overwhelming, and we want to tend to avoid them. So if we break them up into smaller, doable tasks, we can begin making progress.

We want to also set expectations for others. Let people know the expectation in your process of how you work. Also, set boundaries with them, so that they know at certain times of the day, certain times of the week, you’re working on specific things and they don’t need to interrupt you and hijack your time. And number 10, find a quiet place with no interruptions so you can get things done.

So, if you need a tool to help you manage your task, then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager.